Two months have passed, and those same Arsenal fans seem to have rediscovered their smiles, cheers and more importantly hopes. A series of impressive results have jolted them back to 7th in the table, with similar important wins earned in the Champions League. But, even if the whole team has put in an extra effort, most of this change of mood has to be credited to one player. Mr. Vantastic. New captain, Robin Van Persie.

The Dutchman has been on fire since the start of 2011, and continued his rich vein of form with an excellent hat trick at Stamford bridge to bring down a once formidable Chelsea. With all the odds pointing to a Chelsea win, Arsenal came from behind twice to end the game 5-3 winners in a thriller with Van Persie the star of the moment.

The player who Arsenal bought 8 years ago at the age of 20 for just £2.75m (which wouldn't get you an average player these days!) as Dennis Bergkamp's eventual replacement seems to be grooming himself into Marco Van Basten's second coming. He has that constant worry of an injury or temperament flare that could hinder his performances, which explains why Arsene Wenger has been trying to protect his star player lately. He tried resting him against Stoke 2 weeks ago, leaving him on the bench. But duty called and at 1-1, RVP (as he is called) came on to score the 2 winning goals for Arsenal. He has scored 28 goals in his last 27 games, and is on course to beat Alan Shearer's calendar year record of 36 goals that he achieved in 1995.

Marouine Chamakh has pulled out of Arsenal's game against Marseille on Tuesday in the Champions League. But with Van Persie and Gervinho, I think Arsenal's attack is in safe hands (or feet!).

Yasir says:

• Champions League kicks of on Tuesday with Real Madrid, AC Milan and Barcelona having the opportunity to become early qualifiers from the group stages.

• Premier League high flyers Manchester City need to take their league confidence to the Champions League as they travel to Spain to take on Villareal who haven't had any luck so far in this season's campaign. City left it late in the first game against the "Yellow Submarines" to win 2-1 but need to improve if they hope to mount an assault on the trophy.

• Inter Milan will be another team hoping to improve on results. Having lost to rivals Juventus 2-1 last week, Inter need to bring smiles back to their fans with a good result and 3 points against Lille. The French champions haven't had a good start to their Champions League campaign, and only have 2 points from 3 games to show for it.

• Lyon will hope to exact revenge on Real Madrid when the Spaniards visit France for the return match on Wednesday. With Lyon being Real's toughest group opponents, this should be a tight match with Mourinho expected to rely on the triangle of Cristiano Ronaldo, Higuain and the reborn Kaka.

• Manchester United began the healing process after the derby loss, with a 1-0 away win at Everton thanks to a Hernandez goal. They hope to continue with an expected victory over Otelul Galati. The Romanian's lost 2-0 to United in Romania, but the match resulted in a Vidic red card and Rooney goals from the penalty spot. I expect an open game with United hoping to seal three points that puts them on the edge of qualification.

• Andres Villas-Boas of Chelsea has vowed to stick to his attacking approach even though his side conceded 5 goals against Arsenal this week. The young manager denied any intent that his tactics were why the loss occurred and insisted that the club will bounce back.

• Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard is expected to be out for a month after a re-occurrence of his ankle infection. This news comes as a blow to boss Kenny Dalglish as his side are picking up form and Gerrard has only just returned from injury.

• Tottenham's fine form has continued with a 3-1 home win in the derby against QPR. Gareth Bale seems to be recapturing the form that won him last year's Players' Player of the Year Award with 2 goals while Scott Parker was another excellent performer on the day.

Well the table seems to be getting a far more familiar look these days with the likes of Arsenal and Tottenham in familiar territories. Van Persie seems to be the gem of the moment and the Gunners will be hoping he stays that way.